Consoling from the Evil Brother
by GiRl-YoU-dOn'T-kNoW-176
Summary: IS it so wrong for Elena to not want to cry into Stefan's arms but Damon's? Post S02E09 'Katerina' Damon/Elena. CONTINUING! second chapter post S02E12! Enjoy! first TVD fic!
1. Chapter 1

**This breaks killing me so I decided to watch the entire show up to where it is now. This idea popped into my head and I was compelled to give it a shot ;). I'm not a writer but what the heck, I'd be entertaining fellow TVD lovers and myself so here it is. This is my first TVD fic so please be nice. This Chapter is post S02E09. Enjoy and comments are well appreciated!

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It didn't feel right and Elena feared things would never feel right again. Hugging Stefan, her vampire ex-boyfriend shouldn't have had to be a chore but at that moment it did feel like one. She hated feeling that way towards him. She loved him. A lot, but things were different now. Even as she pressed her lean frame into his muscular one, she felt the protection but she didn't find the solace she once found in only his arms.

Elena Gilbert sighed softly into his shoulder once the tears had stopped flowing freely from her eyes and her body was not jerking with sobs anymore. She held on for a minute and breathed into his familiar scent before pulling away and looking into his soft green eyes. Stefan smiled down at her, but she saw right through it. It didn't reach his eyes and it failed in making her feel any better. But she couldn't blame him. Who would smile when there was so much drama going on?

Elena had always believed that her problems had started because of meeting Stefan Salvatore and his evil and wild brother Damon. It made sense after all, they were vampires, nothing about their existence was normal and from the moment she'd found out who and what exactly they were, she'd woven herself into their supernatural lives and problems and now there was no turning back. She tried her best not to lose her sanity while being faced with a new problem everyday and not just any problem but one that was more of a life and death type thing, just because she believed that she was in love with Stefan but from what she'd learnt through her evil doppelganger, Katherine Pierce or rather Katerina Petrova had proven her beliefs otherwise.

It wasn't because of Stefan and Damon, or her biological mother that was apparently a vampire too, or her headstrong witch best friend Bonnie Bennet that many of the people she loved were soon going to be at their death doors but hers and only her fault. Sure in her rational mind she knew it wasn't exactly her fault that she was a Petrova doppelganger, but she still blamed herself in her confused and hurt state.

"Thank you Stefan, for just being around." The tired brunette said sincerely, stepping away from the handsome 162 year old vampire while running her slender fingers through her silky strands. Stefan just nodded once and flashed her another reassuring smile this time his attempts at making one much better. " but I think I just need to sleep it off."

Stefan nodded again understanding what she meant. She'd been through a lot and that was probably the only thing that would be good for her.

"Of course Elena, you'll be alright right?"

And all Elena could do was nod, feeling more emotionally worn out than she had felt in a very long time. She'd have thought that with everything going on, with shocking truths and secrets being discovered everyday, she'd be used to feeling like this, but she only felt overwhelmed. As though she'd been piling everything up and she was finally too full sending her into an emotional overdrive.

She watched Stefan walk down her porch and disappear from her line of vision and that was when she entered her house. Elena stopped for a moment at the foot of the stairs and informed her Aunt Jenna her sole guardian that she was retiring early that night and then made for her room.

Once in the comfortable confines of her room, the waterworks started and she didn't fight them, feeling way to tired to do so. Her back slid down the length of her bedroom door until she was sitting on the carpeted floor. She pulled her knees into her chest and cried into them. Cried for Stefan, for always being there and loving her and wanting to protect her even though she didn't deserve him. And then she cried for Jeremy, her strong younger brother who had been through so so much it should've been illegal for any teenager his age to go through. And then she cried for Caroline, the girl she considered one of her closest friends who was now so much better after going through hell. It was unfair to someone to let them live such a life, but Katherine didn't care about anyone so it didn't bother her to see Caroline struggle being a newbie. And then she cried for Bonnie, her best friend, the one that lost her grandmother because of Elena, and had lost one of her best friends because of what she'd had become and how she hated any vampire because of how they lived on blood and it was their nature to kill. But she still helped them walk in the sun, only for Elena.

And then she cried for Damon. Even though he'd always portrayed himself as the evil older brother, she wasn't fooled by his charade. She knew he cared whether or not he believed her and in some twisted way, everything he'd done, good or bad he'd done for love and each time he loved, his feelings were never reciprocated. She understood why he did what he did, she just didn't think he could've been forgiven for every terrible deed he did.

Once Elena's tears subsided, she brushed them away harshly with the back of her palm and stood up. While making her way to the bathroom that was adjoined both with her and her younger brother's room, she caught sight of her distraught reflection in the mirror. But it wasn't her image that made her stand there and stare, but it was the silver pendant that shimmered slightly under the dim lights of her room.

That was the same necklace Stefan had given her as a gift shortly after they'd made their relationship official and before she knew exactly who he was, or rather what he was. After she'd figured it out, he had told her that it contained a herb called Vervaine, which was harmful to vampires and stripped them of the ability to invade her mind or feed on her. It was the same necklace that had been torn off her neck when she'd been kidnapped by Rose and her best friend Trevor, who intended to exchange her for their freedom with Elijah, one of the originals of the vampires, who she'd feared more than anything while being encountered with. Elijah had ripped it off her neck recognizing it immediately but after Stefan and Damon had come to her rescue, she'd thought she'd lost it forever. Until of course, it had magically appeared onto her neck that night.

A rush of wind and a blur of black leaving her feather-light curtains moving against it in the aftermath caught her attention. Feeling a small smile graze her soft lips, which she didn't realize she made her way towards her ajar glass windows. Leaning over the sill, she immediately felt the cool wind hit her pretty face before she looked around. She was risking her sanity doing this, but what did it matter, she was convinced she'd go insane one day so it didn't make a difference to her if that was the very special day.

"Damon!" she whisper-exclaimed into the dark night and then waited impatiently for a few seconds, which seemed to mock her making her feel even more stupid than she already did. Yes, she'd definitely lost it, because now she was apparently seeing things. Sighing, she padded back to her bed, leaving the window open, just in case. If anyone had asked her why she left it open at that moment, she'd say it was because she needed the fresh air, but even she knew it had nothing to do with the wind.

Lying on her comfortable queen sized bed; she arranged herself to what resembled the fetal position and couldn't help but let her mind wander to the point that every emotion she was feeling before resurfaced again. She tried desperately to fight the tears but she wasn't succeeding.

"Don't fight the waterworks." His heavy and tight voice cut sharply through the calm atmosphere. Elena quickly sat up and turned in the direction of the voice. There he sat on the window seat, still as a statue of marble, black t-shirt, dark jeans and leather jacket intact, hunched over with a gloomy expression adorning his handsome face. She didn't know whether it was the shock of seeing him there or the relief she felt from seeing him that she was staring at him, her mouth slightly agape. As she looked at his face though, she felt an odd feeling of warmth and coolness surge through her entire body as she realized that she was probably looking at him, actually looking at him for the first time since they met.

His skin was pale; porcelain like it was always, although it had a certain reddish tint to it confirming he'd just fed. Even when Stefan fed, he never had any color to him and to say the least, she liked that color on him; it made him seem more human, more normal. His hair was a great deal darker than Stefan's, almost black and seemed finer almost making her fingers itch to just run them through the promised silkiness. Each line, each curve and each contour in his face was sharp and well defined and the way his shapely eyes, his perfect nose and thin masculine lips were shaped with defiance made him inhumanly beautiful. More beautiful than even Stefan, Elena thought privately, although she'd never admit it. Immediately after thinking that, she cursed at herself. She felt like her undead ancestor, vile and deceiving. Selfish and disgusting for thinking that way about the other brother when she was somehow still committed to the other one even though they were broken apart.

"Because when they do come, they won't stop." Damon continued, and then added something her human hearing barely caught but she was sure it sounded like 'trust me, I would know.' But she just let it go.

"Damon, what are you doing here?" Elena asked timidly, even though she knew the answer.

"You called, I came." He replied simply, watching her impishly, that smirk she knew all too well replacing that alien broody look he wore that reminded her more of Stefan. Damon could clearly see the unshed tears in Elena's eyes that she was trying so hard to fight and hated to admit that he felt the urge to comfort her but he ignored it, fisting his hands tightly and holding them strongly at his sides to restrain him from going up to her and doing something he knew they'd both regret later on.

To say the least, Damon was in love with her, heck the entire world knew that by now. When he'd first returned to Mystic Falls, it was to destroy the town that did what it did to him and his lover and it was to reopen the tomb that he'd discovered Katherine, the woman slash vampire that held his heart for over a century and a half and then to live happily ever after and ride into the sunset with a 'Just Married' sign on the back of the car after he'd rescue her. But then everyone knew how that turned out. The bitch was never in the tomb waiting to be rescued. That night though, after finding the tomb empty of Katherine, Damon was distraught. Surely, anyone would be, after having felt no emotion for over a century and a half and having only one goal for that long only to find out all those years were wasted.

And then Elena danced into his dark world, filling it with light ensuring that everything would be okay and giving him a chaste, comforting hug that warmed him and made him believe that if Elena was around everything would be alright. After that, whether Katherine was in that tomb or not, he didn't care a damn.

The irony of it all made him want to laugh because her name meant 'light' and she was the one that brought the light to his life. And then she looked exactly like Katherine, who he despised more than anything else in the entire universe but his feelings towards Elena were exactly the opposite.

Elena replied with a slight nod, not really knowing why she called him, or what to say to him. All she knew was that he was here, sitting opposite from her.

"Was there a specific reason as to why I was summoned, your ladyship?" Damon asked with a cocky tone, looking her up and down and smirking. Elena rolled her eyes at his normal behavior and ignored the innuendo, which she was more than used to. Elena shrugged her thin shoulders.

"I guess I just needed a friend to talk to." She said softly, way too soft for human ears, but Damon heard every word. He wondered why it wasn't Stefan or Bonnie or even Caroline that she was talking to instead of himself, but he chucked that thought away and tried to fight emotions he didn't want to feel that threatened to surface.

"I thought I lost my friend forever." He challenged thickly. The turmoil of emotions that he was experiencing on the inside could have been a part of his imagination with the way he was acting at that moment. Elena was momentarily stunned. The tight fists he'd made did not go unnoticed by her and the strong demeanor he was displaying could've fooled anyone, even himself if he wanted to believe that, but it didn't fool her. Even though his jaw was set strongly in his signature menacing mask, she could see the vulnerability in his baby blue eyes. Elena decided to play along with him in whatever game it was that he was playing.

"You know, I thought so too, but in light of recent events, I feel like the understanding that said friend and I have has just deepened and even though I don't think I can forgive said friend for what he did, I still want him back." Elena told him in a tone to mimic him, making it sound like she really hadn't said anything when what she said only actually made it harder for Damon to resist closing the distance in between them. Damon's eyes closed for a moment and focused on the carpeted floor; anywhere but her. She'd hit something in him and they both knew it.

"What makes you think that said friend is worthy of your trust? What makes you think that said friend won't disappoint you again?" Damon said after taking a deep breath. At first his voice was soft and wavering but as he continued realization struck him that Elena was trusting him and suddenly he was glaring at her, anger replacing the naked tenderness in his eyes.

"That's the thing, Damon. I don't know what's going to happen in the future, heck, I don't know what's going to happen in a few minutes. All I know is that it's going to be messed up either way and there's nothing we can do to stop that from happening. It's going to suck less if I know that I still have said friend with me. And to answer your question, if said friend wasn't worthy of my trust, he'd not have come to rescue me risking his life nor would he still be keeping night patrols outside my house to keep me and the people I love safe when he doesn't have to." She paused and her hand went up to finger the silver pendant on her neck. Seeing as they were having what seemed like a heart-to-heat conversation, she might as well come out with it. " but most of all, he wouldn't have returned my Vervaine necklace when he could obviously have all the fun he wants with me and we both know that thought crossed your mind and looked very appealing." Elena continued, crossing her arms across her chest and gave him a knowing look to which Damon responded with a million dollar grin before his expression turned to one with anger again. He couldn't believe that she had so much faith in him. He should have been screaming with joy at that moment but he was beyond furious at her and himself, partly because he was a little embarrassed to have been caught. He knew it was inevitable; that she was smart and would figure out eventually that it was him that returned her necklace but he'd never really thought when; he just didn't think that it would be this soon or that she'd be so open about it. If he was honest, he'd admit it caught him a little off guard but Damon Salvatore would never admit to a weakness or anything that looked like a weakness.

"And you're so sure that said friend returned it? And if he did, and I'm not saying he did but if he did, how can you be so sure he didn't use mind control on you? Enlighten me Elena." Elena could literally feel the anger radiating off Damon and she was well aware that Damon was never the best person to 'chat' with while angry but he didn't scare her anymore. Neither did the sour edge in his voice.

"because I know that said friend would never do anything to hurt me on purpose. Sure there are times when he snaps but I'm so sure that things went differently even though I don't remember anything." Elena continued to show a calm exterior even though she felt exactly the opposite on the inside. She was mad at him. And hurt too. She didn't think he'd actually use mind control on her considering their new fond bond. She thought they'd been passed keeping things from each other like that. Other than that, he had no right to invade her mind. She felt somehow used and violated but yet she was willing to overlook her anger because she was curious as to what happened that night that Damon would erase from her memory. All she remembered was walking out of the bathroom feeling worn out and then seeing him sitting on that exact spot he was sitting at currently and then she was standing completely blank facing the open window. As far as she was concerned, she had a right to know what they had said to each other. In honesty, she was a little scared of the things that could have happened between Damon and her because she knew exactly how Damon felt for her but part of her trusted him to not have taken advantage of her.

"Okay, can we seriously stop referring to me as 'said friend' or in third person as though I'm not here? It's getting on my nerves. Elena, you can't be serious that you believe nothing bad happened that night." Damon voice was strong, but he was pleading with her to prove him wrong.

"I'm serious Damon. And I know it was you. I had my doubts at first but now I know. If it was Stefan, he wouldn't have been so secretive about it. I'm really mad at you Damon but I'm willing to give you a chance if you can please just tell me what it was that we talked about." Elena pleaded with Damon, but seeing the look on his face, she knew it was going to be harder than that. "Please" she pushed looking him straight in the eyes and sighing when he only looked away. "Damon, I have a right to know. We owe this to whatever it is that we have. You can't keep something like that from me." Elena continued. She got off her bed and walked over to the window seat and sat next to him, immediately feeling him stiffen beside her. She saw the vulnerability flash in his eyes the second time that night and felt a strong need to comfort the vampire of whose weakness she'd seen only very rarely before. His answer though, caught her off guard.

"You already know Elena." His tone held a melancholy that made her want to cry for the strong man who was now in such a weakened state. What was he talking about? Maybe she did have an idea but she knew that she was not satisfied with only knowing what she thought they talked about. Seeing Damon in that state though told her that maybe this wasn't the best time to push him. She'd had enough knowledge of the things he was capable of doing when he wasn't stable and she knew know that he was anything but stable.

So she decided that changing the subject would be the best thing for them right now. Making a mental note to ask him about what it was he made her forget, not like she was going to forget, she continued.

"I went to see Katherine today. Bribed her into telling me stuff." She toyed with her fingers waiting for his response. The last thing she needed was for him to start scolding her and telling her how dangerous it could have been like Stefan had on the way back to her house and she was almost bracing herself for the 'what you did was extremely stupid' rant but was surprised when she heard Damon snort impolitely and glance at her with an incredulous look.

"Well, were you successful?" his voice was thick with his natural sarcasm and she was somehow glad to have him back. Elena simply nodded and he let out a dry laugh.

"Really? What did that bitch tell you? She probably just made up a whole bunch of crap and fed it to you. Katherine's good like that." Damon said through gritted teeth with so much distaste that it was even overdone for Damon. Elena couldn't blame him and to be honest she'd expected that response from him. She knew he hated Katherine with a passion but who wouldn't after being in love with them for over a hundred and fifty years only to find out that the person you loved was never in love with you but your brother.

"She told me that she killed herself with vampire blood in her system. Klaus needed a human doppelganger to break the spell and she'd escaped that by turning." Elena said slowly. She watched Damon's face closely as he processed that. He seemed to be deep in thought and she could guess what he was thinking about.

"But then after Klaus found out what she'd done, he had killed her entire family just because she crossed him and he's still after her, after all these years." That was definitely the last straw, the most powerful spark that resulted into the fire. Elena couldn't control her tears any longer and she was aware that Damon was the last person on the planet that knew how to comfort someone in tears but she couldn't help it. Tears started to leak from the corners of Elena's eyes and she felt Damon's body go taut when she rest her head against his shoulder, but he didn't pull away and she was happy for that. They shared a few moments of silence, the only things breaking it were Elena's soft sobs and for Damon, a few sounds of movement happening in the other parts of Elena's house.

"I'm sorry Damon." Elena started feeling guilty for putting Damon through discomfort she knew he was experiencing even though she knew that he would deny it because she knew how unfamiliar Damon was with emotions, having spent almost all his life fighting them. "But I can't help it. I can't do this anymore. I'm the Petrova doppelganger and I understand why Klaus would want me, but it's not only me he wants. To break the curse he needs a doppelganger, a witch, a werewolf and a vampire. It's just not me in danger. Because of me, Bonnie, Tyler, Caroline are in danger. Stefan and even you too because I know you guys are going to die trying to save me. And I can't even escape this, because if I do, Klaus is going end up killing every single person I care about and I can't just stand there and watch. What am I going to do? People I love are going to die either way and its all because of me!" Elena was now sobbing uncontrollably and Damon just watched her wanting to comfort her but scolding himself not to knowing that she would find a way to break through his barriers and leave him doing something he knew wasn't right. She was vulnerable and he couldn't take advantage of her.

Elena wrapped her arms around her knees and pulled them into her chest accepting that Damon would not console her no matter what. She surprised speechless when she heard the quick rush of wind echo in the silence and then was pulled with inhuman speed into a hard chest; her cheeks pressed firmly against the cool leather of Damon's favorite jacket. And through her tears, she felt the corners of her mouth pick up lightly.

As Damon stood there, holding Elena's slim and fragile body tightly against him as her sobs wracked her body, he cursed at himself. By doing that, he was breaking countless rules, crossing millions of lines and deceiving a whole lot of people including Elena and him. Damon braced himself for the fit he was sure Elena would throw for doing what he did but was surprised when instead Elena nuzzled her head further into his chest and snaked her arms around his lean build frame and finally, after what seemed like ages, Elena's sobs died down gradually.

The duo stood in the center of the dimly lit bedroom, both saying nothing to break the silence that engulfed them too caught up in their own thoughts. Elena tried to imagine the situation with Stefan and was glad tat Damon was not constantly whispering things like 'everything's going to be alright' because she knew that now things would never be alright. Too many lives were at risk because of her and Stefan telling her that things would be fine would have only really emphasized that they wouldn't because most of the times when Stefan said that, he didn't believe it either but only said it for the sake of optimism. She felt horrible thinking that way about Stefan but she couldn't deny the truth. As if reading the gist of her thoughts, Damon spoke up.

"I don't know why you're coming to me with this instead of Stefan but-" Shortly being cut off by Elena, who pulled away gently from his grasp and took a step back so she could look properly into his face, she said:

"He knows, and all he said was that Katherine was lying and then when I tried to explain she wasn't, he told me not to worry about it and that everything's going to be fine." Elena took a deep breath, and then continued. "Everything's not going to be fine Damon and he needs to understand that I have a right to know the truth and that I can handle it. Every step of the way, he's been trying to protect my feelings as though I'm a little plucky child. I'm not Damon." She pleaded as though desperately trying for him to believe her. "I know he's only doing what he thinks is right for me but I need him to know that I can decide that for myself." Elena saw how Damon was hanging on to her every word and was happy he was there to listen. Damon nodded and gave her a knowing look.

"That's my baby bro for ya." Damon started to pace around the room and pick at little objects here and there scattered around her room on the different table tops and holders. She watched him stand at her dresser and fiddle with her make up set and hair brush and then start to sniff at each of her perfumes. "He has this really annoying thing about himself to always be the one to save the day and carry all the burdens. He-ooh, I like this one. What is it?" Damon examined the creative body of the perfume bottle which he apparently liked.

"Burberry. Man Elena, you've got an awesome eye for perfumes…" he paused and gave her a cheeky smile. "Or should I say nose?" and then started to chuckle at his own lousy joke as he tossed the glass bottle from hand to hand. Elena quickly grabbed it from his grasp and placed it on the dresser in its original position.

"You're not funny Damon." She gave him a pointed look and placed a hand on her hip, quirking her brow. Damon gave out an exaggerated groan.

"Oh come on Elena, don't be such a buzz kill!" Damon smirked at her charmingly. "Fine, that was a little lousy but you've got to give it to me, I mean all I was trying to do was to get a smile on that pretty face of yours and guess what, I succeeded." Damon negotiated matter-of-factly.

Whether she had a smile on her face before she wasn't sure but she was a hundred percent sure there was one on her face now.

"You little flirt!" she accused grabbing the other bottle of perfume he was shaking and placing it safely on the dresser. She nudged his shoulders lightly and pushed past him to sit on her bed, still watching him as he leaned against the wall and crossed his arms in from of his chest, crossing his left ankle over his right. He flashed her a sexy wink and grinned. "You know it babe."

Ok maybe that pushed a little too far. She looked away and couldn't help but continue to smile at how easy things were with him. They used to be like that with Stefan once, until Katherine came into the picture. A shadow crossed her face but she refused to accuse Stefan of something like that. Pushing those thoughts away, she turned to Damon once again, who was now watching her with curiosity.

"I was being serious Damon." She scolded him but on the inside thanked him for the distraction.

"Oh come on Elena! And here I was thinking that you'd actually make it through two minutes of fun before your broodiness killed it. Speaking of which, you should stop spending all that time with Broody, becoming more like him everyday."

Elena cocked her head at him and gave him a look making Damon's shoulders slump slightly. "Fiiiine." Damon dragged the single syllable. "As I was saying while we were having the conversation that could win an award for being by far the most boring one on the face of this planet, his annoying majesty has this psychotic need to prove himself. Show everyone that he can fix things, that he's the knight in shining armor and all that crap. He always wants to just save the day."

"He needs to understand that this day is one he won't be saving. No one will. No one can." Elena said sadly, looking down at her hands. She heard Damon sigh but dared not look up. She could hear his footsteps coming closer to her until his dark shoes appeared in her line of vision. Two strong gentle fingers pressed under her chin and guided her face to face his. Damon's eyes were intense and he wore an emotion of sympathy as he pursed his lips together, thinking of what to tell her.

"Elena, listen to me and listen well. It isn't your fault that everyone is headed in the direction of the biggest blood bath the entire world might never hear about but you and I both know that there is nothing you could've done to prevent it. You were born with this curse; you didn't do anything to acquire it. Stop beating yourself up about it. I promise we'll somehow find a way to fix this eventually." Damon told her, meaning every word, all signs of him usual cockiness and sarcasm vanished. Elena only nodded and continued to look deep into his eyes searching for his soul. She saw his eyes flicker from her chocolate orbs to her lips. Once. Twice. And a third time.

In her mind, she knew this was wrong but then why was her body leaning closer to Damon to close the gap. She knew if they kissed that it was something that she would not be able to walk away from just like that. Considering Damon's feelings towards her just showed how much the aftermath would shatter him as well, but then why were her eyes fluttering shut and her lips tingling in anticipation of the promised bliss. Just a tiny bit closer…

The rush of cool wind hit her hard in the face and her eyelids flew open only to be met with emptiness where Damon was kneeling down at a fraction of a second ago. She turned frantically to her left then right to see his tall figure a silhouette in front of the open window.

"Elena, we can't" Came Damon's strangled voice. Elena's head was pounding signaling the formation of a headache she could do perfectly fine without. She could feel her heart hammering through her chest. So much had happened during the whole day and it was now taking its toll on her.

"Isn't this what you want, Damon?" Even Elena was surprised by her words that came out softly; that came out like a desperate plea.

"There's a lot of things I want Elena, unfortunately, you can't always get what you want. It's a truth I've come to terms with." Damon replied and Elena could literally feel the sadness radiating off his retreating form. "I should leave."

"Damon, talk to me." She didn't know what had gotten into her, all she knew was that there was something that was really bothering Damon and she wanted to make him feel better. Damon shook his head and said nothing. "Damon, please. Don't shut me out." Elena begged as she approached him hesitantly. Then realization hit her.

"This is about Stefan isn't it?" Damon remained quiet for a few moments and watched Elena's face which he could see clearly even though the room was very poorly lit. Every contour, every line screamed out to him to just confess and then live a life worse than hell. He tried to keep himself strong. He'd already showed her enough of his humanity tonight but he couldn't and so he caved.

"Elena, it's not only about Stefan. It's about you and me too. It's about us. I can't trust myself with you especially now, when you're upset and not thinking right. If I start, I don't think I'd be able to stop myself. Even just one toe past the line and there's no going back. I don't want you to wake up tomorrow and feel something we did wasn't meant to happen. I'll go crazy Elena, I really will. It happened once when I thought you were Katherine and I was on the verge of insanity. This might just break me." And that was it. All the humanity she was going to get from Damon Salvatore in a long time. At least he hoped. He made sure to freeze every emotion he'd felt that night and turned to look at her with a straight face she couldn't fathom. Elena didn't say anything, taking in everything she'd just heard but just before he was making to leave her room, she stopped him, her voice thick with emotion.

"Just so you know Damon, Stefan and I, I don't really know what is happening because it's pretty complicated now but I can assure you that we are probably officially broken up, with Katherine and Klaus at the loose. I love Stefan and always will but things will never be the way they were before." She paused briefly and watched his unchanged face, took a deep breath, and then continued. "I've always tried to hate you Damon. After what you did to Jeremy, I was convinced I did but then I realized I was making myself believe that's how I felt about you and not my original feelings. Damon. You're ignorant, arrogant, an ass almost all the time but I can't hate you. I want to all the time but if I did, I wouldn't be fair to myself. I can't say anything I feel for you is deep because I don't know that and I'm not ready to even admit it to myself if I did I need you to know that I trust you, way more than I should. I've tried to fight whatever it is we have, but I'm done fighting."

Damon didn't know what to tell her. He only knew that tings were getting too deep for him to handle and he decided it was time for Damon the dick to save the day and bring all the barriers that Elena had managed to knock over.

"I really shouldn't be here but since I am, I might as well make the best out of this little situation we've gotten ourselves into and let little Stef know I popped in. Now his reaction I'm looking forward to. I'm sure it should be the highlight of this century. You have yourself a good night Elena." He flashed her his signature smirk and then turned to the window. He stopped, gave her a once over and added, "BTW, cute jammies." And he was gone.

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**That was harder to type than I thought. I have exams coming really soon so I probably wont be able to update much but ill try to get atleast one more out. Please stick with the story and review, they absolutely mean everything to me. Constructive please! Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed it! :)**

**btw, should i leave this a oneshot or should i continue it?**


	2. Chapter 2

**I'd like to thank everyone that reviewed! They made my day. I was no nervous about it I literally bit my fingers open. And those of you that now follow my story, I'm glad you feel my story is worth following but reviews would be appreciated a lot more! :) Anyways, the response I got from majority of you was to continue it, so I thought I should give it a shot. I've been thinking a lot of a plot but I ended up pretty much following the preview of S02E12 'the descent' so this chapter is post S02E11 'By the Light of the Moon'. It's a little different though, from the preview but I just hope you enjoy it. On to it now! Remember the more the reviews, the faster the updates!

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Leaning her head against the material of her silky feather-light curtains, Elena thought back to her conversation only a few nights ago that had taken place in this very room. How could she be okay with the fact that she'd literally told him that she felt for him way more than she was supposed to only to be brushed off by Damon's arrogance. She was seething by the time he disappeared from her room and all she could think of was regretting that the collision of their lips never even happened. She wasn't supposed to feel that way about him. Didn't she recently tell him that she loved Stefan and that it was always only going to be Stefan that night when he 'killed' Jeremy?

Her mind drifted to the morning following that night when Stefan and Damon showed up at her doorstep. She really did not want to talk to them; Stefan because she felt as though she was deceiving him and Damon, well for obvious reasons but they told her it was important and there was no way she could have avoided it so she unwillingly let them in. She couldn't deny the unusual torrents of emotions she felt when Damon's arm brushed against hers accidentally on their way to the kitchen or when their eyes would lock, they'd share a look of longing and then act as though it never happened. They'd come to tell her that they found a way to save everyone but that was if Klaus never found out that they were responsible for the lifting of the spell from the moonstone. Elena had insisted though that she didn't want them to do it because she was sure Klaus would eventually find out and kill every single person she loved including the two of them.

She wasn't stupid. She knew they were going to do it to save her even though she didn't want them to so she decided something for herself, for the first time and to her, it seemed foolproof, until of course her plans to sacrifice herself were foiled by Rose and Damon. When she'd gone to see Rose about taking her to Richmond to 'extract information' from Slater a friend of Rose's, she was surprised to see Rose in only a very scandalous robe, walking around the Salvatore Boarding House in ways even she hadn't yet. Rose had thought it was Damon and said "it's not nice to leave a naked girl so early in the morning" before finding out it was actually Elena.

While Rose went to change, Elena was left alone with her thoughts. She tried to steer away from any that revolved around Damon but found her attempts useless. She was beyond furious at him because of how he'd vanished the earlier night but she found herself wanting to tie him to a post and stake him because he actually had sex with Rose just after their little heart-to-heart session. She was more than hurt if she was being honest, because she'd thought it had meant something to him because it had meant a great deal to her. But apparently, she was wrong. She would never admit it, but the source of most of her anger was from the dirty green monster that was arousing from deep within her. Why was she jealous of Rose? And why did care so much what Damon did with anyone else? It was none of her business! But that was the hard part, as much as she willed herself to believe she didn't care a damn who Damon slept with, she still cared. And she hated herself and the very existence of the outrageously infuriating Damon Salvatore.

Her plans were going perfectly. She'd successfully caught the attention of Klaus' and Elijah's allies and they were on her way to collect her and neither did anyone have an idea of her plans because that would only make things harder, or so she thought. Damon showed up and decided to play the lone ranger and protect her when the two vampires came to take her. They were not a problem as Elijah stole the spotlight, killed the two vampires and then disappeared leaving Damon and Elena perplexed. She could have sworn she thought he was going to kiss her when he blocked her hand and hovered over her, a dangerous look plastered across his face. Then when he turned away, she was left questioning the fact that what if he had and why she wanted it so much even though she was fully aware that it would only complicate things more for her.

On their way back to Mystic Falls, they'd been quiet. She'd desperately wanted to talk to him about the earlier night and about finding Rose half naked in the Boarding house but the tight set of his jaw while he drove exceeding speed limits told her that things would be best if they were silent because apparently, he couldn't wait to get away from her. They'd finally shared a conversation that night at her porch where she'd told him that the 'incredibly stupid' stunt she had pulled off was to protect everyone that did things to protect her, whom she never questioned so now when she was doing the same, why was she being questioned. Before he'd been able to answer though, Jeremy had opened the door and broke to them that Stefan was stuck in the tomb with Katherine.

After that things had been a flash, one second Damon was firmly restraining her from entering the tomb and the next she was trapped in her own house by her own friends and all Damon did about the situation was mock her but then again, why would he do anything else but that?

Elena sighed and tried to clear her mind. So much had happened those past few days that she felt like she was about to explode. She needed someone to talk to but both her best friends Bonnie and Caroline were 'on duty' and talking with Damon never went well so she was left to dwell on her thoughts by herself. She pulled at the curtains and looked through the window at the surroundings she hadn't been able to step into the whole day because of Bonnie's spell.

A smile tugged at her lips when she saw the reflection of the person she'd been missing for the past few days and at the sound of his smooth velvety voice calling her name, she turned to him standing by the door with the sheepish grin she'd come to love. Her smile only widened until her jaws started to hurt and she leapt into his arms, feeling that it was the only thing she needed at that moment.

Stefan held Elena tight, reminiscing in the embrace. God he had missed her. Granted they'd been broken up all through it, he still missed seeing her or talking to her. Elena pulled back and happily grinned at him before leaning up and pressing her lips to his. It had been a while since she'd done that, and it did catch Stefan off guard for a few seconds, but once his lips started to move in synch with hers, there was no more hesitation. Stefan pulled Elena's head closer and felt her arms snake around his body as she deepened the kiss. Suddenly, they were headed in the direction of Elena's bed as their kiss got heated.

Elena desperately wished to feel the passion as her back hit the soft mattress of her bed but hated that she didn't feel like she was losing herself in the kiss like she used to when things between her and Stefan had been less complicated. Stefan's lean and hard body hovered over her thin one and she continued to kiss Stefan in ways she thought would trigger her feelings for him to become stronger, she realized she was forcing herself to imagine that way. What made her skin crawl in disgust though was that she was thinking about how Damon would react to their reunion.

Stefan and Elena pulled away when the shrill ringing of Stefan's cell phone cut sharply through the quiet aura. Elena's heart was racing and she was taking deep breaths as Stefan pushed off her, muttered an apology and fished out the offending device from the pocket of his jeans.

"Damon." Stefan spoke normally, no signs of breathlessness in his voice. As he listened intently to what Damon was telling Stefan over the phone, he paced the length of Elena's bedroom. Elena sat upright and watched him. She inwardly thanked Damon for the interruption because she seriously needed to sort out her feelings for both brothers. She loved Stefan, she was sure of that and the happiness she felt to see him was not forced. He'd been there for her through a lot. Been the only one to really help her heal the loss of her parents and get over her depression. He listened to her when she needed to talk to him but she couldn't help but notice that ever since Katherine came to town, he was barely there. She knew the break up had affected him as much as it had affected her but what if that was the best thing to happen for them.

He had spent a few days trapped in a tomb with her psychotic ancestor that he was in love with a long time ago, and he had kept a picture of her for all these years even though he had claimed he was over her. What if he really wasn't? Not to mention the fact that the only reason he fell for Elena was her resemblance to Katherine. And now that Katherine was back in town, Stefan and Elena's relationship was lacking the passion and the fun it once had.

It was absurd to think that he would do such a thing to her, but Elena couldn't help but come to terms with the fact that maybe Stefan was still in love with Katherine. Even with that though, she couldn't be mad at him considering that her feelings towards 'the enemy' were not exactly only platonic but she still loved Stefan, if not in the passionate way, she still cared for him deeply and he was a very important person in her life who she cared about deeply and didn't want to lose.

"I'll be right there." Stefan's voice was urgent and there was a sort of sadness in his face when he turned to Elena. Elena quickly rid herself of all thoughts and focused on Stefan who was now restoring the phone in his pockets.

"What did Damon say?" she asked him alarmed, her mind coming up with all sorts of answers that consisted of the people she cared about and danger and she didn't like any one bit.

"It's Rose. She got bit by a werewolf. She says it hurts and he thinks it's pretty serious." Stefan explained calmly, but his eyes showed that he felt the exact opposite of his demeanor. "I have to go. You should stay here."

"No Stefan, I'm coming along." Elena gave him a strong unwavering look and Stefan only nodded knowing that he could not change her mind when she had an expression that determined.

They reached the Salvatore Boarding house in a matter of minutes, having left the Gilbert residence immediately after Elena had decided she was going. Stefan led the way to the main living room obviously having heard Damon and Rose in that room with Elena following closely behind.

Rose was a mess. Her pixie hair was sticking up in all directions and her face was pale. She looked tired and beyond sick, as though she was dying. And she probably was, Elena thought privately watching Rose accept another glass of human blood from Damon whose expression was soft as he looked at her drink the bright red liquid gingerly. She could tell Rose had had quite a few bags of blood already considering the amount of empty blood bags littering the coffee table in front of the couch Rose sat on.

Damon turned around and acknowledged his younger brother with a nod but when he turned to see Elena standing closely behind Stefan, his eyes grew dark and he gave her a cold stare which made chills run up Elena's spine. Now what had she done? He looked at her like it was her fault that Rose was dying and it probably was with everyone running up and down and doing the most outrageous things to protect her.

"How is she?" Stefan asked simply, leaving Elena's side to stand in front of Rose and inspect her situation.

"She says she's cold, which is unusual for us. At first, it was healing and we thought that it was just a myth that werewolves created to keep vampires away but then she started to complain and we saw this." Damon explained and tugged Rose's shirt, which Elena recognized as one of Damon's over her shoulder, exposing a large swollen area that was red. Huge boils that looked too painful for Elena to even look at jutted out of Rose's skin and from what Elena could see from a distance, it looked as though large chunks of skin were beginning to peel off. Elena felt a gasp escape her throat and her eyes started to water and that was when Rose noticed that Elena was in the room. Rose's eyes sought out to Elena's while Stefan continued to examine the deadly rash on her body and she offered her a warm smile. Elena tried to return the smile but instead of it being reassuring, it was sympathetic because even though somehow Rose had managed to show Elena some warmth, Elena saw through it and found pain and agony in her jade hued irises.

"How did this happen?" Stefan broke the silence, giving Damon a pointed look. Damon pursed his lips and before he could answer, Elena spoke for the first time.

"Tyler did this? I thought Caroline was taking care of him. Is she hurt?"

"It wasn't Tyler and as much as I hate to say, Vampire Barbie didn't mess up once. I was looking forward to being rid of another problem since she's thinning out half of my blood supply but that didn't go as planned and now I have another problem at hand. While you were incognito, Sheriff Forbes declared Mason a missing person and it just so happened that Mason's pet showed up looking for him. We…you know…mingled and-"

"And you decided that you know what, this girl just might be a werewolf and considering tonight is a full moon I should be my usual self to her and piss her off and then when she's a werewolf, she can just pop in and bite me and all the problems in the world will be solved!" Stefan did a loose impression of Damon all too cheerfully earning a sour look from Damon. "You can be so smart sometimes, Damon."

Stefan folded his arms across his chest and paced in front of the fireplace in the dimly lit room, deep in his thoughts. Damon yet again refilled the glass of blood for Rose and this time while handing it to her gave her a soft reassuring smile which didn't go unnoticed by Elena. It was the first time she was seeing this side of Damon. Even towards her, he never showed too much emotion and she couldn't help but feel jealous that Rose had found a way to break through the ice in him.

"Did anyone ever mention a cure?" Stefan asked.

"Well, Alaric's looking through Isobel's research and anything he can dig up from ancient books while Bonnie's going through spells to see if she can find something to help out. So far, we've got nothing." Damon answered shockingly enough with no sarcastic remark in his reply. Stefan nodded.

"And Mason's girl, did she say anything to you? Anything suspicious or anything that could help us?"

"Nope, but we should probably find out. She says she's been at it for a while so she obviously knows a lot more that puppy Tyler would know. Besides, I'm going to rip that bitch's heart out whether or not she tells me anything." Damon growled angrily, hatred radiating off him.

"Yeah, that's exactly what you're not going to do. She obviously would have information that could be useful to us. You going to retrieve that would only piss her off further. I'll go and talk to her and see if she can tell me anything, that way we might actually get somewhere." Stefan said authoratively and Damon rolled his eyes.

"Of course Stefan, always being the mature smart one. Go show her how sweet and nice you are and she'll bite your ass too. That way I'll be rid of another one of my problems too." Damon said sourly and turned to walk in the direction of the bar. He really needed a strong drink for the migraine that was forming. Fixing himself a glass of his favorite bourbon, he turned to Elena who was quietly standing by the entrance of the room, watching the scene with heavy eyes.

"Oh and take your little girlfriend too, she has suicidal tendencies. Maybe she can ask Jules to bite her too, that way she'd be satisfied too and world peace would be restored after we find a way to fix Rose's shoulder." He flashed her a wicked smile before emptying the contents of the glass in one swig.

"Stefan, you go. I'll stay back and watch Damon; he's not exactly stable right now." She told Stefan. 'Which is exactly why I don't want you to stay' was what Stefan thought but instead just nodded.

"I'll be back." Stefan told her and gave her a small smile, which Elena returned easily.

"I'll be back? What kind of 'undying mortal-immortal love' language is that?" Damon snorted. "I'll be back." He tested in a deep voice mocking Stefan. Elena glared at him and Stefan just left without another word.

"You're not funny Damon." She told him, walking over to where he was standing and pouring himself another stiff drink. Once he set the large glass bottle down on the countertop surface, Elena grabbed it and poured some in a glass, much to Damon's surprise.

"Really 'Lena, cuz I think that I'm doing just _awesome_!" Damon exclaimed, saying the last word with way too much enthusiasm. Elena rolled her eyes and took a sip of her drink.

"No? Well, then you tell me what's funny Elena? I bet it's hilarious for you to run right into baby Stefan's arms once he got out of the tomb." Damon said bitterly. Now it was Elena's turn to snort.

"No Damon, I find it hilarious that you slept with Rose the night after I confessed my feelings to you. It's funny because it shows me how much of a game all this is to you." Elena countered with just as much vehemence in her tone. She didn't care whether Rose was just a few strides away from them, now eyeing them guiltily. It wasn't her fault; she never knew that there was something going on with the two of them.

"It is a game for me Elena. I'm a vampire. I'm not supposed to feel. It's against my nature. Stefan's being the noble one and embracing his humanity but I'm not Stefan. I'm embracing the beast within me." Damon told her seriously and Elena snorted again.

"You and I both know it's not true, Damon. You may have everyone else fooled that a monster is all there is to you. You may have yourself fooled that the monster is all there is to you, but you can't fool me."

This shut Damon up and Elena smiled in triumph. She was glad that she knew how to play Damon's game and beat him at it. Silence surpassed the two and Damon padded over to where Rose sat quietly, wincing each time she moved a muscle. He handed her another glass of blood and then knelt down in front of her. Elena couldn't hear the two interact because of how they were whispering to one another but she did look away feeling a pang slice through her as she noticed how Damon's expression changed to a gentle one by just talking to Rose.

"How are you feeling?" Damon asked Rose gently, placing a hand on her sweatpants clad thigh and rubbing soothing circles into it. Rose cracked a small smile at him.

"It hurts Damon." She told him sadly. "I don't think I'll be able to make it."

"Of course you will silly, Stefan's going to walk through that door with a cure any second now and you'll be good as new." Damon knew that there was a one in a million chance that Jules would tell Stefan a cure considering even Stefan was a vampire, and then he was trying to help Damon out but he had to be strong for Rose. He just had to be. He couldn't lose her. For the first time in Damon's life, he cared about someone that didn't look anything like the Petrova doppelgangers that had him twisted and wrapped tightly around their fingers in their own respective times. This time, it was not a one side thing. Rose cared about him too and he couldn't lose her. He knew that he didn't love her. Out of the three women, he only loved Elena deeply. His feelings for Katherine had only been an obsession that turned really horrible, but with Rose, he knew he could trust her and vice versa. That was something he hadn't been able to share with anyone ever in his entire life and he wasn't just going to let her die because of him.

Rose lifted a pale weak hand and touched Damon's face. She let her hand run over the smooth contours of his handsome face as he closed his eyes and relished in the feeling of it.

"Damon, we both know you're trying to make yourself believe that." She told him softly. "Things are going to end the way they should so please, you might as well just finish it."

"When the time is right." Damon answered curtly. He needed a distraction. Too many emotions he hadn't felt in over a century and a half were resurfacing and this time, he couldn't freeze them as he had been able to all the other times when his emotions went in overdrive. He pulled his face from Rose's hand and stood up. He walked over to the fire and stared into it, clearing his throat. Another silence surpassed the trio as both Elena and Rose sipped on their respective drinks and Damon sauntered over to the bar where he fixed himself another peg of his favorite spirit. Elena watched him carefully, as Damon paid her no attention and kept his head down acting as though she wasn't there. She knew that the whole situation was hard on him, but then why was he being so cold towards her?

"How is she holding up?" Elena queried deciding to break the silence. Damon looked up at her with an unfathomable expression.

"She's on edge." Elena nodded and caught the ice in his tone indicating that he didn't want to talk about it. As much as she respected his wishes, she didn't want him to shut everyone out and have to deal with the emotions she was sure he wasn't used to dealing with. She'd never seen him this affected by anyone else's death. On the contrary, he was always the one that put them in that position.

"You really care about her, don't you?" She whispered to him, as though making a revelation. At this Damon glared at her but before he could answer, a sharp wail of agony stole his attention. His head whipped in the direction of where Rose was screaming in pain and clutching her arm. In the next second Damon was next to Rose holding her body close to his as he whispered things in her ear and examined the rash on her shoulder which now spread to cover almost half of her back.

"How bad is the pain?" he asked her, seriousness etched to every inch of his face. Rose answered by screaming once again. Damon stood away from her and looked away. This really could not be happening. He couldn't lose her. He just couldn't.

"I'm going to get you some more blood." He told her thickly and then cleared his throat. "I'll be back." Saying that in a voice deeper than his normal one, his eyes sought out to Elena's and he winked before giving her a charming and walking into the cellar in the basement where he stored his supply of blood bags.

Elena rolled her eyes at him. Even at the worst of moments, he just had to be an ass. Rose's voice echoed again through the large house and Elena winced. She couldn't just stand there while Rose was in excruciating pain, could she? Elena desperately wanted the pain for Rose to stop or at least to go and comfort her but Damon had told her that Rose was on edge and she didn't want to make anything more complicated for anyone else. So she sat there, waiting for Damon to get back and listening to Rose's tormenting screams.

And then everything happened to quickly, one second Elena was raising her glass to take the last sip of her drink and the next, instead of it reaching her mouth it was knocked off and sent flying into the rear wall smashing into tiny pieces next to the raging fire in the fireplace. Elena's breath caught in her throat and she turned her head quickly to her side to see Rose charging at her neck menacingly. The whites around Rose's pupils were red and the veins under her eyes popped out. Rose's teeth were now elongated into fangs and all Elena could do against Rose's steel grip on her upper arms was yell out for Damon.

Suddenly, she was pushed away with a great force to the ground as Damon showed up in vampire speed from the basement and pounced on Rose, who was struggling against Damon while he pinned her to the ground. Obviously though, Rose being older than Damon made her a lot stronger compared to Damon and she was able to push him off her easily.

Elena quickly stood up, her side painfully sore but she ignored the pain and ran at Damon's command. She ran as fast as she could, not caring where it was she was going but she kept running, up a flight of stairs and into a room which she entered and then made sure she locked the door tightly even though it made no difference. Turning around to face the room she'd run into, she saw that it was a study, with bookshelves lining the walls and a large table in the center stood with chairs surrounding it. She desperately looked for anywhere else to run but realized that she was trapped. Seeing a wooden chair, she decided she wasn't going to let herself be killed without a fight. She grabbed the chair and laid it on the carpeted floor. Then she stood on one of the supports and pulled the chair upwards. She threw the larger part of the furniture carelessly to the side and firmly held the smaller part close to her chest waiting to stake Rose if she came into the room.

Elena could feel the adrenaline course through her veins as she waited by the back of the room. It was too quiet and she was becoming jittery. She couldn't help but let her mind wander to scenarios that involved one of them getting hurt. And what if it was Damon that was hurt? She knew that the older the vampire, the stronger they were and even though she didn't know how old exactly Rose was, but she knew Rose was the one that turned Katherine and if Katherine was over five hundred years old, then Rose was probably a lot older than her.

A loud crashing sound made Elena jump and the loud footsteps that followed on the stairs made Elena's heart jump and her stomach to flip uncomfortably. She held the stake at a ready position and bravely stood her ground.

The wooden door flew open noisily and Elena flinched as Rose stormed into the room. She looked more like a monster at that moment if it was possible. Rose's dangerous eyes locked onto Elena's frightened dark brown ones and an evil smirk lit up Rose's face. It was at that moment that Elena realized that Rose had absolutely no idea who she was or what she was doing. All that mattered to her was the kill.

"Rose! It's me! It's Elena!" She screamed frantically as the possessed vampire moved closer to Elena, like a tiger stalking its prey, cornering it, and then killing it, Elena thought. She swallowed the lump in her throat when her back hit the wall and saw how the smile only widened on Rose's face, baring her pointed white fangs.

"Rose, please." She begged but the wooden stake refused to lower from its position in front her chest in self defense. Rose eyed it and accepted the challenge, not like it was going to be a tough fight, between an outrageously powerful vampire and a weak flail human.

And then she pounced on her.

Elena's scream echoed through the entire boarding house as Rose flung the stake away from Elena's grasp and sank her fangs into Elena's neck. Elena's attempts to struggle free were useless under the vampire's iron hold and soon enough, Elena stopped, feeling the energy drain from her body making it go limp.

She couldn't tell for how long Rose's continued to drink from her, but the pain in her neck from the bite was numbing and she was slowly losing consciousness. But then suddenly, she faintly heard a rush of wind, and a penetrating sound and then she felt Rose's body freeze and then fall to the floor as her own feeble body smashed into the wall keeping her upright in an awkward position.

Elena took a few breaths and then forced her heavy eyelids open. The sight in front of her stunned her. Tears started to well in her own eyes as she looked down at Damon who sat on the carpeted floor and held Rose's lifeless body close to his face. She couldn't see his expression but the slight shake of his shoulders told her enough. She stood there for moments, watching the vampire whom she now wanted to comfort more than anything as he ran his fingers through Rose's hair.

When Damon's face finally looked on her, he had an unfathomable expression with no signs of pain or sadness. He stood slowly letting Elena see the way the wooden stick had pierced through Rose's body which caused Elena to shudder.

"I'm sorry Damon." Elena's voice broke and now tears were streaming down her face as she clutched onto her neck that was now bleeding uncontrollably. Damon let out a dry laugh.

"Why should you be sorry Elena? It's my fault she's dead. Not yours. I'm the one that pissed Jules, not you."

"Damon, don't do that. You didn't do it on purpose. Don't beat yourself up about this." Elena pleaded. She made sure to keep her distance from him because in the end of the day, Damon was still a vampire. What she didn't know was that Damon was well aware of blood oozing from the wound but he couldn't care less at that moment.

"I'm a monster Elena! Everywhere I go, anything I do people get hurt. It's my nature to be the bad guy. Why is it so hard for you to understand that?" Damon yelled at her. He walked over to the desk in the center of the room and punched his fist into it, tearing it apart into two large pieces. Elena jumped at his sudden destructive behavior and he turned to her.

"You're afraid of me." He wasn't asking her, but he was telling her. He slowly padded closer to where she stood and wasn't fooled by the brave exterior she was trying so hard to portray. From her eyes, he could tell she was almost shitting herself.

"No I'm not." Elena cursed at herself mentally for sounding so weak when she wanted to sound brave. Damon laughed again causing her skin to crawl.

"Yes you are. And you should be. I'm a monster." He proclaimed impishly. "And I always will be."

"No you're not Damon." Elena announced strongly after taking a deep breath. She withdrew her palm from her bleeding throat and held the blood coated hand out to him. She was probably crazy for doing that considering that he was a vampire and even though he knew how to control himself, it didn't mean he couldn't lose it. But she needed to prove something. And she knew he would never hurt her. At least he hoped he wouldn't.

"What are you doing?" Damon demanded taking large speedy strides away from her. Was she nuts to offer a vampire blood? Did she have any idea the danger she was weaving herself into?

"I want to prove to you that you aren't a monster."

"Elena, get the fuck away from here." He muttered in a low warning voice. He could feel his fangs lengthening and he didn't know if he could trust himself. The last thing he wanted was to hurt another person he felt something for.

"No." And as if things weren't bad enough, she was taking steps closer to him.

"Elena, I said get your ass away from here!" but she only continued to take small steps closer to him. "I will kill you."

"Then do it. Prove to me you're the monster you claim to be."

Damon shut his eyes and exhaled deeply, then inhaled just a little bit of the air intoxicated with Elena's delicious smelling blood. He continued to do that and Elena stopped in her tracks and watched as the protruding veins under his dark eyes ceased to their normal appearance and the heightened fangs returned to their original size. Pride swelled through her as Damon's eyes opened revealing his beautiful baby blue orbs and she smiled.

Damon only glared at her and turned to the door.

"This stunt you pulled was extremely stupid Elena. Don't ever think that I won't hurt you with any chance I get. You're lucky to be alive. There's a first aid kit in the bathroom downstairs. Go clean yourself up and then go home." He deadpanned and then left the room.

Elena did as he instructed. She cleaned up the blood on her hand and neck and then plastered a bandage on her neck. On her way out of the Salvatore Boarding house, she spotted Damon nursing a glass of alcohol, from what she figured, bourbon staring aimlessly into the fire.

She stood at the landing wondering whether she should say something or that would just be pushing Damon a little too far. Before she said anything though, Damon broke the silence, not averting his face from the fire.

"Go home Elena. You've caused all the damage you could've. Would it kill you to just leave already?" Even though his tone was controlled, his words were hurtful and Elena decided that she had enough.

"I actually was going home but coming to think of it, maybe I shouldn't seeing that you may end up doing something stupid again resulting in another person dying." She countered sourly. At this Damon looked up at her. He showed her no response in his face, and then turned to the fire again. Elena groaned and her expression softened.

"Why are you being so difficult Damon?" Elena pleaded making her way over to where he was. He didn't respond again and she took a deep breath. "I know you cared about Rose and her death was not easy on you but you can't beat yourself up about it. If you continue to blame yourself for her death then I will too."

"And now why would you do that?"

"Because she was after me, I'm the reason that things ended up the way they did. Had I gone with Stefan, he'd probably have showed up with a cure and she'd be recovering now."

"None of this is your fault. Jules was after me when she bit Rose. I'm responsible for her death. I'm the-"

"Don't you dare say you're a monster. I thought we established that." Elena pointed out.

"That didn't prove anything Elena, do you know how bad I wanted to kill you then. How bad I wanted to suck you dry and drain the life out of you."

"But you didn't and that's what matters." Elena pressed. She took a seat next to him on the ancient sofa and felt him stiffen. "You decided that you couldn't hurt me, and you controlled yourself. You fought the temptation and I'm proud of you." She whispered looking him deep in the eye.

"Elena, don't think that I will be able to do that all the time. It's this easy for me to give in." He snapped his fingers in demonstration, his voice thick. Elena nodded.

"Well let's just hope you can control yourself. I know you can." She encouraged him and then before he could say anything else self demeaning, she wrapped her arms around his torso and leaned her head into the crock under his head. She knew that was a wrong move considering Stefan could walk in through the doors any second, or that her wound was still bleeding under the cushiony bandage but when Damon's arms slipped around her fragile tired body, she felt herself smile as he pulled her closer.

That was enough for now, knowing that at least at that moment, there was hope for something at least, and that was them.

* * *

**This was so hard to type. I'm happy with the content, but cant say the same about the writing as i was in a daze while typing it. I'll try to get another chapter out by the end of the week but cant promise anything as i have exams.I really should be studying but this is fun. **

**PLEASE REVIEW! hope you enjoyed it! 5 MORE DAYS! I'm feeling Damon deprived! lol!**


	3. Chapter 3

_**So I know everyone's wondering where the heck did I go but I'm really extremely sorry for updating this late but I have a few reasons which are :**_

_**-I had exams for the first two weeks and I really just needed a break from any type of work for a week after that.  
-I've been having problems with my laptop. I started typing this chap out in that one week, and was halfway done when I lost my file cuz of moving things from laptop to laptop. I have a new one and thankfully, it's staying.  
-I've lost my muse and had serious writer's block after I lost the chap. I literally spent hours staring at a blank sheet of paper, on my notepad and the laptop and got nothing. This chapter was extremely hard to type but I did it saying that I really need to get this done.  
-the VD episodes being back on are not helping me either. It's just much messed up in my head and I can't really explain but there's been no Delena in the past episodes and no inspiration! I'm thankful for this other break cuz now I can out my thoughts together and write without distraction. **_

_**Hopefully i'll finish my story, cuz my planning so far takes me to 8 chaps and 4 and 5 are kinda filler-ish but I still need to type them. Honestly, I'm not really excited for the chaps until chap 6 so my motivation just flew out the window and that's making it extremely hard to type but I am going to finish this story cuz I'm sooo excited for the ending and even if it takes me a year, I'll get it out. Hopefully it won't take that long lol but however long, please just bear with me!**_

_**Again, thanks for all the support and reviews, they mean everything to me and I love reading your thoughts! PLEASE REVIEW! And ENJOY!**_

**Chapter 3**

Three days.

Seventy two hours.

Four thousand three hundred and twenty minutes.

What difference did that measly amount of time make to anyone?

Sometimes they'd just come and go and no one would notice but sometimes, they'd seem to take forever, taunting you about something you'd rather do without being reminded of.

Three days seemed to take a lifetime to someone that was alone, depressed and miserable. And that was exactly what Damon had been feeling like for the past three days: alone, depressed and miserable.

He missed it. Missed being the living non-living person to whom nothing mattered because he chose to live by his instincts. Now, he was living by the Elena wanted him to so he could be the better person and she'd choose him over Stefan. But was it worth it? Was she worth it for him to just turn his back on something he loved just so he could get her?

And then what? Would she ever choose him over noble Stefan? And if she did, which seemed pretty impossible but if she did, what would become of them? Would they establish themselves as boyfriend and girlfriend?

That thought seemed to make Damon somewhat shudder.

Damon the boyfriend. That did not sound macho or badass enough for him. It sounded more like a 'Stefan' title. The thought resulted in Damon emitting a snort.

Oh yeah, Elena would totally wake up one day and realize that Damon is the one she wants, and then pigs would fly!

Damon took another large swig of the strong spirit and placed an order for another one to the barman at the grill. Running his hands through his disheveled hair, he wondered what it would be like to just turn off that switch again and not feel any of the pain or the hurt he'd been feeling. It was the most alluring idea especially at that moment that he'd conjured up but he couldn't go back to living like the way he did before, not now after he'd developed feelings for more people than he thought he was capable of feeling for.

And he couldn't go back, especially after he'd come this far. He had to persevere, even if that meant having to bear all that hurt if not for Elena, then for Rose. She'd never really said it aloud but he knew that she was the good person and she wanted him to be too. She probably even believed that he was and although he'd never admit to it, it had meant the world to him knowing that someone cared for him and believed in him. Even though Rose was dead, he was sure to continue fighting for her.

The Mystic Grill was quiet than it normally was save for the loud music busting from the stereo close by and the usual chit chat from people of all ages. Damon was on his third drink while trying to keep his mind free of Elena when he heard her familiar voice in the distance.

_Speak of the devil, _he thought to himself, his lips twitching upwards. To say he was pissed at her was probably the understatement of the century. If he was honest to himself even, he'd realize the hatred he was feeling towards her was merely because he missed her but he would never. Even though she'd told him that they'd be okay after he'd lost his friend at his hands and he believed her, she wasn't there. It was as if she'd disappeared off the face of the planet since then. He was sure now that Stefan was out of the tomb, she'd be too busy being sappy with Stefan than to bother about him but not that he knew of course, he had better things to do than to keep tabs on his younger brother and girlfriend slash the girl he loved like drown in his own misery.

"Hey Mr. Saltzman." He heard her greet Alaric who was seated on a table grading history papers.

"Hey. How you doing?" he continued to sip on his drink while eavesdropping on their conversation; one of the perks of being a vampire: being able to listen to anything and everything going on around you.

"I'm doing well. Jenna asked me to give these books to you and that she's really sorry for not being able to make it today. She got held up at work." Elena explained with that all too perfect voice of hers.

"Yeah, she called. Tell her that it's alright. I was actually just heading home; I'll give her a call. Thank you for bringing these over though." Alaric answered and Damon didn't have to face them to know that Alaric was gathering his things and getting up.

"You're welcome Mr. Saltzman." Once he heard Alaric's footsteps disappear outside, he turned his head to where Elena was communicating with the history teacher he had once tried to kill but failed only to catch Elena's deep brown eyes instantly. Ignoring the torrent of feelings that surged through his body, he plastered a fake, all-too-cheerful smile onto his face and waved at her. He saw Elena roll her eyes at him and stride towards him while he took that opportunity to turn to his drink and take another sip.

"Damon, can we talk?" Elena said briskly, a sort of frustration lacing her tone that made Damon's lip twitch upwards in that annoying half smile.

"Well, hello to you too Elena. Seems to me, Stefan's finally spared you a few seconds to hi. Pat him on the back for me when you get back to him, will ya?"

"Damon, I'm being serious. Can we talk?" Elena insisted; her expression slightly irritated.

"Sure." He replied, his smirk still intact. Elena watched him for a moment and then sighed.

"In private." She emphasized and immediately regretted saying it like that when Damon answered with his infamous 'eye thing'.

"I was wondering when that was going to come. My place or yours? Or maybe the ladies bathroom, little birdie told me it's actually pretty pleasurable."

She decided to ignore his innuendo knowing that it was no use saying anything to him since it would only come back to her and bite her in the ass. Instead she gave him a meaningful look that said she was all business before heading out, listening on him to know that he was hot on her heels. Once they were out in the cool evening atmosphere, in an alley behind The Mystic Grill and out of earshot of everyone, she blew her top.

For Damon, all he knew was that one second he was walking behind a very pissed Elena that had him wrapped around her little finger and the next, his face was being whipped to the side with a slight force. It wasn't the force of the little impact of her hand against his face but the shock because frankly that was something he as a vampire with extra-sharp senses did not see coming.

"You had no right!" she screamed at him furiously but before her palm could smack him again, his survival instincts kicked in and he grabbed her hand firmly.

"I thought we established that you never try to hit me." His jaw was hard and voice full of danger and seriousness as he said that while she struggled against his iron hold. He watched her with narrowed eyes for a moment of struggling and then let her go. She stumbled backwards and looked at him; her eyes ablaze with fury and all he could think was that he had no idea whatsoever why she was this angry with him.

"How could you?" She demanded in a softer voice this time, rubbing her sore wrist.

"How could I what?" He noted that she took a deep breath before answering; much more calmly this time.

"Jeremy was in the bathroom when you returned my Vervaine necklace. He heard everything-"

"And he told you." Damon stated curtly, cutting her off. He didn't ask her what she knew, or what she felt about it, because her behavior said it all. The feeling of rejection washed over him once again, the same way it had when he had been rejected by both Katherine and Elena the night he'd snapped Jeremy's neck on impulse. He wanted to be stubborn and show her that none of this mattered to him. He didn't want to show her that she had this affect on him and desperately tried to keep his face free of emotion but when he saw her face mollify, he knew that he was failing.

She was beyond angry at him from keeping such a thing from her but her rational mind knew that what he did was the right and smart thing to do because she was with Stefan and not Damon. She was still angry though, because the part of her that had feelings for Damon wondered where they would be now or what they'd be if she'd known all along. The selflessness of this act made her feelings towards him sort of magnify and within those few minutes; from furious, she'd gone to admiring and sympathizing. She knew all the pain and hurt he'd gone through, with Katherine, with Rose and then with her, and yet when he'd had the chance to compel her, he didn't use it to his advantage.

"Why, Damon?" Her voice was barely a whisper, but he heard it loud and clear. When he didn't answer her, she continued. "Why did you erase my memory? I have a right to know."

"It was the right thing to do Elena." He finally said tightly.

"But if you hadn't, perhaps things would be different now." he could see the understanding in her face and he recognized her expression as one she usually gave Stefan. He should have been rejoicing in the hope that maybe just maybe, her feelings were a little bit deep for him but he found himself being afraid when he saw that look.

"Are you hearing yourself?" he demanded. "How could you even consider it? Oh yeah, I love you and you love me, let's elope and drive into the sunset! It's not like you're in love with my brother and vice versa!"

Elena bit her lip and look at her Converse shoes which seemed to look a lot more interesting at that moment than it ever had. She knew he was right; her knowing would only have complicated things further, like it just had.

"I didn't mean it like-"Her cell phone started to ring cutting her off mid-sentence. She gave Damon an apologetic look as she phished it out of her pocket and answered it, not bothering to check the caller I.D.

"Hello"

"Elena, where are you?" Damon recognized the voice as Caroline's.

"Caroline, is everything okay?" The urgency in her tone told Damon that she was already imagining the worst case scenario in her head and that made him roll his eyes.

"Everything's fine. Where are you?"

"I'm-"

"Baby, are you coming to bed soon?" Damon cut her off in a constipated sounding voice, knowing all too well that Caroline, and perhaps even Stefan if he was around. Also because he wanted to cut the tension and what a better way other than a sexual joke he knew would offend Elena. Elena gasped and swatted him on his arm while he laughed getting the reaction he aimed for. She glared at him but he continued to laugh, not being able to control himself.

"Was that Damon?" Caroline's voice asked.

"Yeah. Apparently, he thinks its funny being a jackass." Elena said.

"What are you doing with Damon?"

"I came to drop something off for Jenna at the Grill and I bumped into him here." Elena explained, running a hand through her straight locks.

"More like ravaged me." Damon piped in causing Elena to glare at him once again.

"Shut up Damon." She said to him and then to Caroline she said, "Anyways, what's up?"

"Well, I'm at the boarding house. I came over for some blood and then Bonnie came over. Stefan says you guys should come over." Caroline explained. Elena nodded but then realized Caroline couldn't see her.

"Okay we'll be right there." She said before disconnecting the call. She slipped it into her pocket before turning to Damon and saying, "We're going to continue this conversation later."

"Can't wait." Damon replied with a tight smile before heading into the Grill for another drink leaving her alone in the alley.

"They're on their way." Caroline informed Stefan and Bonnie, who stood opposite her in the living room of the Salvatore Boarding house. Stefan nodded and then turned to Bonnie.

"Are you sure that you were able to unbind the spell from the moonstone?" He asked the young African-American; who nodded.

"Yes, I was."

"You're sure, right? Because it doesn't seem like a very easy spell and you weren't strong enough to-"

"I was able to channel power from the moon and since it was a full moon, I was able to channel a lot of energy from it and that helped me do the spell without draining my powers too much. IT's done Stefan, I saw the rock explode." Bonnie interrupted Stefan curtly. She gave him a meaningful look, one that said she could be trusted and he dropped the matter.

"Okay then."

A few minutes later, of discussing that there would be no doppelganger sacrifice, Elena and then Damon showed up. Stefan filled them in on what he, Bonnie, Caroline and Jeremy had been discussing and they listened intently.

"So now what?" Jeremy finally asked after a moment of letting everyone process everything and gather their thoughts.

"Now..." Stefan drawled, not being able to finish with a proper answer.

"Wait, what if Klaus finds out?" Elena piped in, panic and fear washing over her senses in an instant. She couldn't let everyone she loved get killed and now that they'd taken the first step to cross Klaus, she'd already begun to feel like she'd lost someone.

"No one else knows about this other than us, so there's no way in hell he can know and the only person who knows that you're alive is Elijah, so we can just find a way to rip his head off." Damon suggested, smirking with his eyes. Stefan rolled his eyes at his older brother.

"Damon's right, but we're not going to kill him because he may come in handy to us since he wants Klaus dead just as much as we do. For now, no one will speak of any of this because we don't want to make it obvious to Elijah that we're not exactly walking along the lines of his deal. He'll continue to keep us safe, and when the time comes, we'll find a way to end Klaus." Stefan explained and Damon groaned.

"Darn, I was looking forward to ripping some hearts out! Seems like we're saving the best for the last then." Damon shrugged and sauntered over to the alcohol cabinet.

"Anyways," Stefan continued. "We've still got our werewolf problem so Caroline, I need you to watch him. How's he been?"

"Oh, Tyler's doing great. It was really hard on him, but then I wouldn't think it'd be easy on anyone to morph into a wolf every month. He's dealing. For now, he's just happy that he got through his transformation without hurting anyone. I actually have to go see him at the Grill in an hour but before that, I've got to head home. I can give you guys a ride if you want?" She directed at Jeremy and Bonnie. They both stood up from their seats on the sofa and followed Caroline out after saying their goodbyes, leaving Elena alone with the Salvatore brothers.

She stood somewhat awkwardly against the wall studying the faces of Damon, who was too busy, engrossed in pouring out a drink for himself and Stefan, who was watching her with a look she couldn't fathom because she had never seen him wear that look before and it only heightened her anxiety. Before she could say anything or do anything, Stefan was already making his way towards her.

"Elena, can we talk before you go, please?" he asked carefully and that confused Elena. She merely nodded; it being a reflex action but on the inside, she was unsure and already thinking up what could possibly be wrong. I mean sure, ever since he got out of the tomb, they had made out once, but other than that, they'd barely seen each other, and sometimes she wondered if he felt the distance between them too.

She followed him towards the stairs letting her eyes glance to where Damon was. Damon had a sour look on his face which she realized was the result of seeing her and Stefan together. She bet he probably believed that they were still together when they hadn't established that. She wondered whether that was what Stefan wanted to talk to her about and suddenly experienced a sinking feeling in her stomach for going to have to reject him again, this time because she didn't believe in them anymore. She knew that sooner or later she'd have to come out with the truth and her only option was sooner because she didn't want to lie to him about it. Stefan was a good guy, and he deserved the truth no matter how ugly it was and she was done pretending. It didn't do him any justice and only made her feel worse about herself.

"Oh God! I don't think I want to be anywhere within a ten mile radius from here while you guys are engaged in…certain activities!" Damon said in mock disgust. Before he could continue, Stefan spoke.

"Then please leave."

"You won't have to ask me a second time!" He gave Elena an intense stare and then vanished not being able to take the hurt of seeing her reunite with his brother again.

Since Damon was gone and they were alone, they decided they didn't need to go anywhere, and Elena preferred it that way. They sat opposite each other on the many sofas in the Salvatore living room.

"Elena, I need to tell you something." Stefan started carefully. Elena nodded and he continued after taking a deep breath.

"While I was stuck in the tomb with Katherine, being away from everything and everyone gave me time that was much needed to think things through." He didn't know how to tell her what he was going to. He wanted to do it a gentle way that wouldn't cause her much damage, but he needed her to believe it, partly because even though how unlike him it was, it was true but mostly because he needed to protect her. And if that meant pushing her away the way he had planned to then so be it. It pained him to have this conversation with her and at that moment, his thoughts in his head felt as though they were all over the place. He needed to get his thoughts collected, but he couldn't walk away now that he'd told Elena he needed to speak to her.

"Elena-" he paused and shut his eyes tightly.

"What is it, Stefan? You're scaring me."

"I'm still in love with Katherine." He continued softly.

To say that she did not see that coming was the understatement of the century. It was the complete juxtapose to what she had been preparing herself to hear and it caught her off guard. She had had her doubts with Stefan's feelings for Katherine and how his behavior had become so distant ever since she had made her entrance in town but his statement shocked her because not in her wildest dreams had she thought Stefan would approach her with this subject and never had she thought he'd be so curt about it.

"Okay." She didn't know what to say. She felt lightheaded and numbness spread through her body which made her react lifelessly. In her mind, she knew that she was hurt but it was inevitable. He had loved her as a human and it was impossible for anyone to just forget about the person they were in love with.

"Elena, I'm sorry…you deserve better than that. Than to be with a man that is in love with someone else-"

"Don't be sorry Stefan. I understand that you still love her."

"You don't understand Elena, I never stopped loving her." Stefan admitted guiltily. "Even when I was with you, I was still in love with her. I may have denied it but the truth was that I still did. And when she came back, I realized that I couldn't hide from the truth of it." Stefan took a deep breath and Elena felt the numbness start to disappear. Her heart felt heavy. She loved Stefan. Even if she had feelings for Damon, his feelings for Stefan would never go because he had helped her through a very hard time and he had been there for her. When they had first started, she had never felt more alive in her life and that was only because of him and the feelings he invoked in her. And now he was telling her that they were officially over because he was still in love with his ex.

She sighed. She'd known it all along that they'd be seeing their official end soon but it was easier said than done. Now she felt as though there was a whole in her chest that nothing could fill up.

"I'm sorry Elena. I don't want to feel for Katherine but she has this way of getting under my skin. I feel horrible for having done this to you and I really don't deserve you." She could see the pain in his flawless emerald eyes and she believed him. She couldn't blame him or hate him because he was just too honest to dislike. She didn't even have the right to hate him because she could be put under the same category. She hadn't succeeded in keeping her relation with Damon platonic. Far from it. And now, Stefan's honesty made her admire him instead of hating him.

"Stefan, don't say that." She told him with a clearer mind now that her brain was functioning somewhat rationally. "You deserve the best. Better than me even and don't be sorry. Feelings for a person cannot be erased, no matter how long it's been or how hard you've tried." She said softly. She brushed the tears away that were brimming over her eyelids and took a deep breath. She couldn't breakdown. She had to stay strong and collected.

"But this-"

"Shh, Stefan." She interrupted gently. "I need to tell you something too. I love you Stefan. I always will but until a little while ago, I started to realize that there is something between Damon and me, and it's not friendship. We don't have a name for it….I doubt we ever will but I needed to be honest with you, the same way you are being honest with me." Elena explained.

Now it was Stefan's turn to be speechless, but there wasn't much he could do and was glad that even if she couldn't have him, she had his brother to protect and be there for her through thick and thin. And frankly, it was Damon's turn to be loved back.

Stefan's silence got Elena into a nerve-wracking situation. She anxiously waited for a response but only got a very deep in thought look from Stefan.

"Stefan, does it bother you? I'm sorry. But I needed to be honest with you." She said when she couldn't take his silence anymore. Stefan shook his head.

"No, I'm glad you told me…I just didn't see that coming." He told her. "I guess it was inevitable."

"What do you mean?" Elena queered, her thin eyebrows knitting in confusion.

"You having feelings for Damon…I can't explain it, but it is and I feel that-" he paused and took a deep breath. "That you and him are good for each other. He needs someone to care for him like that, and he loves you so I don't see anyone caring for him like that better than you and frankly, he deserves you."

Elena couldn't believe her ears. Was Stefan actually giving Elena permission to be with Damon? All she could do was nod, her head not being able to form coherent words.

"And good luck with Katherine…" she said weakly. She found it a little weird, her giving Stefan a thumbs up to date her great great great great great grandmother and in honesty, she didn't want Stefan to be with 'the enemy' but if Stefan wanted to be with her, there was nothing she could do about it.

Stefan nodded and they were surrounded by an awkward silence. Elena glanced at the large grandfather clock. She didn't really need to be anywhere but at that moment; she wanted to be anywhere but there with Stefan.

"So I guess I should get going. I promised Jenna I'd help her cook the dinner tonight." She lied standing up. Stefan nodded and stood up too as a formality and escorted her to the door.

"I'll see you around Stefan."

"Yeah sure." Stefan replied and just as Elena was making her way to her car parked outside the curb, he called out; "Elena, we're good right?"

And Elena smiled a real smile that whole evening. At least she wasn't going to lose him.

"Yeah, we're good."

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